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In U.S., 65% Dissatisfied With How Gov't System Works

cpwill

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And in particular, we seem to have a heavy belief that government is now too big, too powerful, and does too much.

:) Gosh. I wonder what the electoral implications of that are.

...Republicans and independents are largely responsible for the overall decrease in satisfaction with government effectiveness in recent years. Satisfaction among Republicans and independents began to wane during President George W. Bush's final year in office. This may have reflected mounting public dissatisfaction with the Iraq war, coupled with the Democratic takeover of Congress after the 2006 midterm elections. Both groups' satisfaction plummeted still more between 2008 and 2011, and has since dipped further. Republicans' satisfaction went from a peak of 79% in 2005 to a low of 28% in each of the past two years. Meanwhile, Democrats' satisfaction has been remarkably steady, generally hovering near 50%, and is essentially the same as it was in 2004 under a Republican president. Democrats' satisfaction might have been much higher today, with a Democrat in the White House, if not for the twin problems of the economy and partisan gridlock that have tarnished the government's image among both parties. Satisfaction among Republicans, which has directly correlated with the party of the president in office, continues at its depressed level, with this year's reading tying the record low from 2013. Satisfaction among independents, meanwhile, has gone down 10 percentage points during that same time.

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One reason Americans are dissatisfied with how the government system is working is that they believe it is too big and powerful. Two-thirds of Americans (66%) are unhappy with the size and power of the federal government. These views potentially hamper President Barack Obama's ability to propose large-scale government solutions in his State of the Union speech next week. However, this problem is not a new one for the president. Roughly two-thirds of Americans have expressed this view consistently since at least 2011, after the measure jumped a full 10 points between 2008 and 2011.

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...

So, yeah. Good luck getting Single Payer passed in the wake of Obamacare. :)
 
People are dissatisfied, sure, but when you get into the details of the typical conservative solutions they lose their appetite fast.

Edit: Also, the trends in the graphs appear to have started when we invaded Iraq and when the economic downturn occurred. The relationship to Obamacare is vague, at best..
 
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And in particular, we seem to have a heavy belief that government is now too big, too powerful, and does too much.

:) Gosh. I wonder what the electoral implications of that are.



So, yeah. Good luck getting Single Payer passed in the wake of Obamacare. :)

Electoral implications? Clearly not to much since many government downsizing options come with side policies that some may not like. For example, with strict restrictions on abortion/capital punishment/other issues or vice versa, dividing the group so much that the electoral impact is nullified. The ACA seems to be a uniting factor however for these groups, since after its announcing in 2008 there was a 10 point rise, probably due to the immense government spending and inefficiency that occurs because of socialised healthcare, as seen in the UK, where recently a man died in an ambulance after waiting for A&E for 4 hours. Once Obamacare has been repealed then the anti government feeling will revert back to the (likely out of office if ACA has been repealed) Democrats criticising the very same drone strikes and privacy infractions to which Obama is committing himself to now.
 
Partisan hackery. You left out the poll that is featured in your title. Congressional gridlock is a key feature there. Not to mention the 65% comes from a combination of somewhat and very dissatisfied.

The question didn't ask if the respondent thought government was too big- it asked if they were happy with the size and power- poor phrasing, even for Gallup. I'm sure many Liberals felt MORE should have been done. If you don't ask why and make one of these cute graphs for the reasons you tend to feed the trolls.

You didn't include the bottom line- dysfunctional government topped the list of reasons why the dissatisfaction.

But CONs have to look for what they can glean... and FYI your 'pronouncement' of a tough time for Obama to get a single payer system is faking a victory. Getting ACA was the goal, one step at a time, let the 'fear' pass from something new and then decide what to do next. :peace
 
I notice the democrats never really change. Stagnant bunch they are. Might be the whole un-educated base and largely low information registered D's that just vote D. They hardly know if they are coming or going, nevermind having a decent understanding of the U.S. gov.
 
You can't blame the Constitution since we're bearly following it.
 
People are dissatisfied, sure, but when you get into the details of the typical conservative solutions they lose their appetite fast.

Edit: Also, the trends in the graphs appear to have started when we invaded Iraq and when the economic downturn occurred. The relationship to Obamacare is vague, at best..

The Majority of Americans have always opposed Obamacare:

Date…......for..against
Mar 10….39%...53%
Nov 10….38%....54% Republicans gain 63 House seats and 6 Senate seats, Obama approval rate 45% approve 49% disapprove
May 11….39%....52%
Nov 11….39%....49%
May 12….39%....49%
Nov 12….42%....47% Obama wins presidential election, Obama Approval rate 51% approve 47% disapprove
May 13….39%....49%
Nov 13….39%....53%
Today…..40%....55% Obama Approval rate 43% approve 51% disapprove

The above compliments of RCP.

I do think Obamacare is a part of the dissatisfaction with government, but just a part. When the majority of Americans do not want it, yet the government insist on it that will effect their attitude towards government. How many, it is hard to say.
 
The Majority of Americans have always opposed Obamacare:

<Buncha numbers>

I do think Obamacare is a part of the dissatisfaction with government, but just a part. When the majority of Americans do not want it, yet the government insist on it that will effect their attitude towards government. How many, it is hard to say.

I never said it wasn't part of it, only that the link between that opposition and the general levels of dissatisfaction is vague.

Certainly, Obamacare has nothing to do with those levels in 2002 or 2004, when these trends began on our graphs. We have to consider what was going in American politics at that time.
 
The scary thing to me is that 35% of the people approve of our bloated, expensive and corrupt federal government.
 
I never said it wasn't part of it, only that the link between that opposition and the general levels of dissatisfaction is vague.

Certainly, Obamacare has nothing to do with those levels in 2002 or 2004, when these trends began on our graphs. We have to consider what was going in American politics at that time.

Correct. We also have this from the same Gallup poll as the OP.

Trend: Americans' Dissatisfaction With the Size and Power of Federal Government


gallup graft.png


Bottom Line

Obama and the elected representatives in Congress have faced a tough audience in the American public in recent years, with the majority dissatisfied with the performance of government and concerned about its size and power. This year will be no different as the president prepares to speak to the nation next week. And even a slight majority of those in his own party are generally dissatisfied with how government is working. This dissatisfaction is also reflected in Gallup's separate question measuring Americans' perceptions of the most important problem facing the country; dysfunctional government is the top category mentioned this month.

Outside of the president's party, unhappiness with federal government size and effectiveness has only grown during his time in office. Republican satisfaction with the government's effectiveness dropped dramatically after Obama's 2008 election, while that of independents fell a bit more gradually.

All of that being said, I wonder if people are now looking at their government as a government that doesn't listen to the people anymore and a government that does not have the ability to solve the problems of America which leads to the huge dissatisfaction of government in total.
 
Outside of the president's party, unhappiness with federal government size and effectiveness has only grown during his time in office. Republican satisfaction with the government's effectiveness dropped dramatically after Obama's 2008 election, while that of independents fell a bit more gradually.

If we had an accurate way to measure public hysteria, I'd wager that it has increased at about the same pace. The endless and increasingly shrill doom howling (from all sources) serves to make people who are only half interested to become pessimists.

It's all they hear, and so they assume that's all there is.
 
If we had an accurate way to measure public hysteria, I'd wager that it has increased at about the same pace. The endless and increasingly shrill doom howling (from all sources) serves to make people who are only half interested to become pessimists.

It's all they hear, and so they assume that's all there is.

I tend to agree with that. Americans are very pessimistic about its future.
 
If we had an accurate way to measure public hysteria, I'd wager that it has increased at about the same pace. The endless and increasingly shrill doom howling (from all sources) serves to make people who are only half interested to become pessimists.

It's all they hear, and so they assume that's all there is.

PESSIMISM™ is the way to go with anything. PESSIMISTS™ always win. When it goes bad, they are right. When it goes well, OK, so what?

Our owners are concerned with themselves, not with us. So, there won't be any real change ahead. That doesn't mean that as individuals we are lost - we can still create our own success.
 
I tend to agree with that. Americans are very pessimistic about its future.

It makes me wonder why, with over 300 million of us, and only 500 or so of them governing in DC, that we accept this pessimistic attitude and do nothing about it! Have we truly become the sheep they believe we are? During the 1930s, they had reason to be pessimistic, but they fought back and carried on. Have we become that lazy and unconcerned to care about our future as a nation?

Greetings, Pero. :2wave:
 
It makes me wonder why, with over 300 million of us, and only 500 or so of them governing in DC, that we accept this pessimistic attitude and do nothing about it! Have we truly become the sheep they believe we are? During the 1930s, they had reason to be pessimistic, but they fought back and carried on. Have we become that lazy and unconcerned to care about our future as a nation?

Greetings, Pero. :2wave:

Evening Pol, during the great depression we had a leader who provided hope. FDR accomplished and did quite a lot, but even if he did nothing but provide the hope he did, he still would have been a great president and man. Not sooner was the great depression ending when we were thrust into WWII. Our parents lived through perhaps the worst time so far in American History. But they and those before them always had a goal. That goal was to have their kids, their grand kids and the all future kids to inherit a country that was better than the one they were leaving or left. They wanted all their children and future children to have a better life than they had.

Perhaps they spoiled us too much to ensure we never had to go through what they did. But I think the 60's generation started something, at least part of them did. They begin to want more and more, an easier life, more benefits except unlike generations that proceeded them, they weren't willing to pay the price. They, we started mortgaging our children futures to get and pay for what we have today. I think the time of reckoning is near. Perhaps most do not directly see it, but they also sense it. Whether one admits it, whether one closes his eyes, whether one turns a deaf ear to it, most know and or sense it. Perhaps they don't understand the reason behind it, but pessimism does reign.

For the first time in our nations history there is a feeling that our kids, grand kids and those to come will be born in a nation where will not have it as good as those leaving. That those coming into this world will be the ones to pay for our excesses. That realization doesn't sit well even if it is a subconscious realization. We sit here and elect people who are not willing to do anything about it out of fear of losing the next election, most of us are unwilling to sacrifice a bit for them to have it as good as we had.

It does seem as if we aren't really worried about the future of this nation. It is the here and now and I better get mine. Our elected leaders go along with that and promise us more and more and give us more and more on the backs of the very young and those yet unborn. Very few of us will come right out and say it, no one wants to hear it. But we realize it, even if it is only a sense that is registered in a poll of dissatisfaction or anger at the government. We distrust our government, the one we send to represent us, we distrust them as they tell us what we want to hear and we know they are lying to us, but we want to be lied to. So we have become very pessimistic about the future and we should be, we created it. We are responsible for it. Few will admit to it. So be it.
 
Evening Pol, during the great depression we had a leader who provided hope. FDR accomplished and did quite a lot, but even if he did nothing but provide the hope he did, he still would have been a great president and man. Not sooner was the great depression ending when we were thrust into WWII. Our parents lived through perhaps the worst time so far in American History. But they and those before them always had a goal. That goal was to have their kids, their grand kids and the all future kids to inherit a country that was better than the one they were leaving or left. They wanted all their children and future children to have a better life than they had.

Perhaps they spoiled us too much to ensure we never had to go through what they did. But I think the 60's generation started something, at least part of them did. They begin to want more and more, an easier life, more benefits except unlike generations that proceeded them, they weren't willing to pay the price. They, we started mortgaging our children futures to get and pay for what we have today. I think the time of reckoning is near. Perhaps most do not directly see it, but they also sense it. Whether one admits it, whether one closes his eyes, whether one turns a deaf ear to it, most know and or sense it. Perhaps they don't understand the reason behind it, but pessimism does reign.

For the first time in our nations history there is a feeling that our kids, grand kids and those to come will be born in a nation where will not have it as good as those leaving. That those coming into this world will be the ones to pay for our excesses. That realization doesn't sit well even if it is a subconscious realization. We sit here and elect people who are not willing to do anything about it out of fear of losing the next election, most of us are unwilling to sacrifice a bit for them to have it as good as we had.

It does seem as if we aren't really worried about the future of this nation. It is the here and now and I better get mine. Our elected leaders go along with that and promise us more and more and give us more and more on the backs of the very young and those yet unborn. Very few of us will come right out and say it, no one wants to hear it. But we realize it, even if it is only a sense that is registered in a poll of dissatisfaction or anger at the government. We distrust our government, the one we send to represent us, we distrust them as they tell us what we want to hear and we know they are lying to us, but we want to be lied to. So we have become very pessimistic about the future and we should be, we created it. We are responsible for it. Few will admit to it. So be it.

Pero, you and I, and millions of others, worked hard for what we have. I think that was mostly due to the fact that we had self respect, and good role models! No one nagged me into working for what I wanted--it was just expected that I would do so because I had watched my entire family and many many others while growing up, and followed in their footsteps.

That we have a society today that wants and expects everything, with little or no effort on their part, is an indication of decay from within. Others are not doing this to us--we're doing it to ourselves. What can be expected from the youngsters growing up today that may be the third or fourth generation on welfare. They may not know any other way to live. The reckoning will come, though. I don't know what it will be, or when it may happen, but it seems to be nearly inevitable to me. And they will not be prepared. Sad...
 
Pero, you and I, and millions of others, worked hard for what we have. I think that was mostly due to the fact that we had self respect, and good role models! No one nagged me into working for what I wanted--it was just expected that I would do so because I had watched my entire family and many many others while growing up, and followed in their footsteps.

That we have a society today that wants and expects everything, with little or no effort on their part, is an indication of decay from within. Others are not doing this to us--we're doing it to ourselves. What can be expected from the youngsters growing up today that may be the third or fourth generation on welfare. They may not know any other way to live. The reckoning will come, though. I don't know what it will be, or when it may happen, but it seems to be nearly inevitable to me. And they will not be prepared. Sad...

I agree, the reckoning will arrive. I don't know when but I have a feeling it isn't that far off. It also seems inevitable to me.
 
Pero, you and I, and millions of others, worked hard for what we have. I think that was mostly due to the fact that we had self respect, and good role models! No one nagged me into working for what I wanted--it was just expected that I would do so because I had watched my entire family and many many others while growing up, and followed in their footsteps.

That we have a society today that wants and expects everything, with little or no effort on their part, is an indication of decay from within. Others are not doing this to us--we're doing it to ourselves. What can be expected from the youngsters growing up today that may be the third or fourth generation on welfare. They may not know any other way to live. The reckoning will come, though. I don't know what it will be, or when it may happen, but it seems to be nearly inevitable to me. And they will not be prepared. Sad...

Sorry to break up your pity party but we have only ourselves to blame. We are the ones that promised a better future and didn't deliver. We told our chidren if you go to college and get a degree you will have a good paying job. Guess what? They are not there anymore. The job situation is nothing like it was in the previous generations. Who are their heroes? Sports figures and pop stars that get their money for nothing and their chicks for free. Even Doctors are more concerned with their 401k's than patients. Blame the culture of greed that Reagan's yuppies ushered in. Blame our failure to recognize the sea change in the job market and retrain our workers instead of paying companies to send their jobs away. But don't put the blame on the young, they are products of the world we gave them.
 
Sorry to break up your pity party but we have only ourselves to blame. We are the ones that promised a better future and didn't deliver. We told our chidren if you go to college and get a degree you will have a good paying job. Guess what? They are not there anymore. The job situation is nothing like it was in the previous generations. Who are their heroes? Sports figures and pop stars that get their money for nothing and their chicks for free. Even Doctors are more concerned with their 401k's than patients. Blame the culture of greed that Reagan's yuppies ushered in. Blame our failure to recognize the sea change in the job market and retrain our workers instead of paying companies to send their jobs away. But don't put the blame on the young, they are products of the world we gave them.

:agree: ... :thumbs: We all seem to acknowledge there is a big problem, but why is nothing constructive being done about it? Ignoring it and hoping things will magically change isn't working! Some hard work is going to be required, but few seem to be willing to do what's necessary to turn this around. This country is being run by attorneys who have book learning, but no ideas, so their time is being spent in arguing with each other, and concentrating on one-upmanship instead of trying to work together for the benefit of the people who pay their salaries, and I am including both sides of the aisle! MEH! :thumbdown:
 
The way i read surveys like this is it's time to get rid of the US senate and electoral college, for starters.
 
People are dissatisfied, sure, but when you get into the details of the typical conservative solutions they lose their appetite fast.

Edit: Also, the trends in the graphs appear to have started when we invaded Iraq and when the economic downturn occurred. The relationship to Obamacare is vague, at best..

Because no one wants a big, over-reaching, out of control, convoluted Republican run government anymore than they want a big, over-reaching, out of control, convoluted Democrat government.
 
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